In wireless communications networks mobile stations communicate with base stations using a wireless communications protocol. One exemplary wireless communication protocol is time division multiple access (TDMA), in which multiple calls are supported in a single frequency band by assigning one or more unique time slots to each call. A cellular network is a wireless communication network which is divided into a number of cells, each of which includes a base station. Each base station includes a number of base radios, each being assigned a unique frequency. Through careful allocation of the frequencies assigned to the various base radios of the base stations in a network, frequency reuse patterns can be designed to reduce the level of interference that the base radios of one base station have with the base radios of other base stations in the network. However, the interference cannot be completely eliminated if two nearby base radios are transmitting at the same frequency, which is commonly referred to as co-channel interference, or on adjacent frequencies, which is commonly referred to as adjacent channel interference.
Current cellular networks try reduce interference and electrical power consumption by attenuating the transmit power of unused base radios. However, often a relatively few number of calls are spread across multiple base radios. If there is only a single call assigned to a particular base radio, that base radio would not be able to attenuate its signal. In addition, having a large number of base radios loaded with only a few calls per base radio is an inefficient use of electrical power because, for example, three base radios supporting only three calls consumes a much greater amount of electrical power than one base radio supporting three calls.
In view of the above-identified and other deficiencies of conventional cellular networks, it is desirable to implement systems and methods for reducing electrical power consumption and interference in wireless communication systems.